Winding Stairs
by Reflections of Twilight
Summary: Just when life is pretty good for the flock, they stumble upon a secret that might change everything-the school, the world, who knows? And with it brings a new wave of danger and adventure for Skye, Linnie, Evie, Sen, Ali, Todd, Blade, Jacob, and Polar.
1. Chapter 1

**Yes! The story is up! This is my first story, so it might suck. Oh, well. Sorry it was so late. I was waiting for Emily to make the pictures, otherwise it would have been posted a week ago. So it'll be quicker next time. Emily: Bitch. Me: Shut up. This is my fanfiction, get off! ANYWAYS...This chapter is dedicated to all the people who made a character! So, let's not drag this out and get it started!**

**Okay, so Emily/summeranderson and I made pictures for everyone in the flock. Well, mainly Emily found them and edited the eyes and cropped the pictures while I sat there reading a book. Emily: Sorry if they suck, :P Me: Oh, and Emily's here too! Say hi! Emily: And I'm fucking epic, too. So anyways(REMOVE THE SPACES):  
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**Skye- **http:/t /7utoapn**  
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**Linnie- **http:/t /7hgw6x6****

**Evie- **http:/t /87y4ed5****

**Ali- **http:/t /88pra9t****

**Sen- **http:/t /7r7nzke****

**Todd- **http:/t /7wqq34z****

**Blade- **http:/t /6m5x8lm****

**Jacob- **http:/t /6t3xdgh****

**Polar- In Progress. . I have no idea how to make a wolf pic.  
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**Total: Oh, and I'm here too! Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Skye POV<strong>

"_Skye!" I heard the youngest among my flock cry in a strangled voice._

"_Linnie!" I screamed back. I heard the cry ringing in my ears and began to run through the labyrinth. _

"_Skye?" I heard the voice again, but fainter and less sure. I came to a dead end. Crap. I began to turn around, but the exit had sealed shut behind me. Double crap. _

"_She won't be able to save you this time, runt." I heard an Eraser snarl. I heard the young girl's voice cry out in pain, and the cruel chuckle of her attacker. "Now, how to finish her off?" I heard the hostile voice say. I heard him walking. The footsteps were getting louder and louder. "I could tear her apart, limb by limb." The footsteps came so close I could swear the fiend was right next to me. But the only thing next to me was a cement wall. "Or better yet, we should let her suffer first. By watching her role model die. Maybe that will set her off straight." Then the wall crumbled, revealing an Eraser with a coat matted with Linnie's blood, and my terrified, bleeding sister._

I sat up in our shelter. "Anything wrong, Skye?" I heard Senna ask. She must have taken watch after Evie last night. I turned around to face her. In the dim light that streamed in though the dirty windows, I made out her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, standing up to stretch. "Come on, let's wake up the others so we can head out to go get breakfast." She nodded and we began to shake them awake. When they wouldn't wake up, I said aloud "Bacon!" and they all shot up, saying "Where?" I laughed hysterically at them.

Now, most people would see this as a typical family scene, right? Well, that's where our story starts to get interesting. We're not blood related. Well, except for me and Linnie. But we're all family just the same. And we're not human. We're mutants.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Though all our stories differ slightly, we've all got the same basic one. One way or another, these sick jerks at a scientific lab got a hold of us. The sick jerks are what we refer to as "white coats", and the scientific lab is commonly referred as "The School." Little bit of mutant kid lingo for 'ya there. Anyway, after they got a hold on us, we were experimented on. We are some of the few that get past testing, and, even more rarely, we busted out. We had lived in a house for a while, but then the white coats had found us again and we had just recently been brought back to The School and we busted out _again. _We couldn't have been in there longer than 3 days! We were starting to make our way back home.

Let me introduce myself. I'm Skylar Ross, but people call me Skye. I'm 15, and my mutation is 2% avian, .5% tabby cat, 97.5% human. I'm the leader of our flock, despite the fact that I'm the third youngest out of nine of us. Around regular humans, I appear to be shy. Around my flock, I'm my usual leaderly self. And, if necessary, I fake complete insanity. I have long, wavy, muddy red hair that's almost always in a ponytail, blue-gray eyes, and muddy red wings with lots of small black and brown streaks.

Senna is the oldest. But we don't usually call her Senna. She's usually referred to as Sen, or Sen-Sen. She's 17, and she's 2% albatross, 8% shark. She gives off this casual air, but she's pretty in her own peculiar way. She has dark brown hair that's up to her waist and eyes that are a deep shade of gray, but not deep enough that you would mistake them for black. And if you comment about her style, there's a 99.99% chance that you've earned yourself a slap across the face. And she's crazy smart. If the rest of us have IQ's around 130, then hers has to be around 200.

And Evie, well, Evie's a category in and of itself. She has black hair with blood red streaks that she dyed in, and eyes that can be either light purple or light, mist-like blue and have flecks of sea green and silver in them. Her wings are jet black. She might wear a skirt, but don't let it fool you. She's just as tough as any of us, maybe even tougher. Even though she's usually silent around the rest of us, she likes some of the weirdest things. Like Bleach. I mean, it's about a teddy bear! **(AN: I'm only saying that 'cuz whenever I ask Emily why she likes an anime about a teddy bear, she starts getting all defensive, like, "IT'S NOT ABOUT A TEDDY BEAR! SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M SO EMO!" *sobs* jk about those last three things. BTW, she's standing over my shoulder watching me type this, so it's 'kinda awkward…)**She's my second-in-command, though she's not the oldest either. She's been acting kind of weird lately, but I can't say exactly how. She's just acting… different.

Alice is second youngest, and we all call her Ali. She's half human, half silver fox. Her hair is blonde and up to her waist. Her eyes are bluish-greenish, and, even though none of us girls are big makeup fans, she wears some eyeliner. She is kind of a smart ass around other people, but not as much around the flock. She was the only one of the flock who I didn't bust out, with the exception of Jacob. We had found Ali on the streets when she was 12, and when we offered her to stay with us, she accepted. At first, she hadn't been close to us, but after a while, she had warmed up, and she was part of the family now.

Jacob is 16. He's half wolf, half human. He's got his hair into this style that's not exactly a Mohawk, but not exactly regular either, and it's an auburn color. His eyes aren't exactly hazel, but not exactly brown either. Come to think of it, he's got a lot of things about him that are like that. We found him on the street too, and we found him after we found Ali. He fought us at first, but when we convinced him that we were like him, and there was nothing to be afraid of, he almost immediately warmed up to us. It helped that Ali knew what he was going through, and she had helped him. They had both swapped stories about their street life, and had become close friends during that period. He only likes being called Jacob, so sometimes I call him Jake just for the sole purpose of annoying him.

Then there's Todd. He's 15 and has a lot of personalities. He can be helpful, stubborn, or strong. But he cares about his family, and protects them. He gets angry easily, but is always quick to forgive, unlike the rest of us. Todd is 1% tiger, 2% avian, and 97% human. His hair is the color of cinnamon, and it's short and shaggy. His eyes are a yellow-golden color and his eyes are slanted. His wings are mostly dark gray.

There's also Blake, but we call him Blade because… well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know exactly why. Because it sounds like Blake, I guess… He's 16. His hair is black with white tips, his eyes gold. The only thing he really has in common with me is that we both hate Justin Bieber. The whole flock hates him **(AN: by him, I mean Justin Bieber, not Blade)**, actually. We all watched him dying for 10 hours straight laughing our asses off. Anyway, Blade's 2.4% Eagle, 0.6% Wolf, and 97% human. His wings are pitch black, the only difference between his and Evie's wings are that she keeps her feathers neatly groomed, and his are messier.

Next is Kvothe, who's 16. Come to think about it, all the boys except Todd are 16. Anyway, we call him Polar, mostly because he's part silver cross fox. I say mostly because I tease him that we call him that because his name is hard to pronounce. The white coats accidentally mixed too much silver cross fox into him, so he can't fully return to human. He's always got his muzzle, ears, and fur. I think this sucks because he can't go into restaurants, libraries, etc. with us, but he sees this as a bonus because he has more claustrophobia than all of us combined, and that's saying something. He has straight white hair that has red streaks in it, but the streaks are natural, not dyed like Evie's. His fur is red with a sliver cross on his back. One of his eyes is blue, and the other gray. He barely talks, and has a very short temper.

Then, of course, you've got my little sister, Linnie. She's 9, the youngest in the flock, and is 2% bird, .5% Siberian husky. 97.5% human. You know how cats and dogs are supposed to be, like, mortal enemies or something? That's not the case with me and Linnie. I love her, and she loves me. She has hair that's way brighter than mine that I usually put in a French braid for her, and she has deep brown eyes, the color of melted milk chocolate. Her wings are a shade not too much duller than her hair, and have a couple small brown streaks.

Okay, now you know the flock, and that's out of the way. Here's what we did after I got them all awake and promised that yes, we were going to get food, yes, we weren't at the school, and yes, they could all get bacon at breakfast. Of course, they had all been pissed at me because I lied about the bacon, but they weren't too mad. After all, that's how I'd been waking them up for the last year.

"Okay, who wants to stay back with Polar?" I asked. Someone always stayed back with him, so if Erasers came, he stood a better chance against them with one of us around. He had protested at first, but I had reminded him that I'm leader, so I do everything for a purpose. Sen raised her hand. "Okay, Sen will stay back." I said. "What do you guys want us to bring back for you?"

"Bacon, hash browns, bacon, and did I mention bacon?" Sen said. I rolled my eyes.

"Sen, we know you want to marry bacon. Who doesn't?" I turned to Polar. "What'll it be?" I said in a nasally voice that I'd heard waitresses use.

"Ha-ha, very funny Skye." Polar said in an unamused voice. "I second Sen, except for one more bacon and one less hash browns." This time, it was my turn to say "Ha-ha, very funny." So Linnie, Evie, Ali, Todd, Blade, and Jacob and I left.

We ended up at an internet cafe with free Wi-Fi and computers built in to the tables. It was pretty cool, and they didn't charge you extra for using the computer. After we ordered, we took turns using the computer.

"Oh my God!" Linnie exclaimed.

"What? Did you find anything about The School? Itex? Your parents?" Ali asked.

"Better." Linnie said smugly. "A cat with a pop tart body farting out rainbows flying across the sky eternally!" She said triumphantly. **(AN: Nyan cat! LOL XD)**

"Err, just wondering, what did you search to get to that?" Blade asked.

"Well, I wanted to get a pop tart for breakfast, but they don't sell pop tarts here. So I searched up "pop tarts", then I thought about how awesome it would be if pop tarts could fly, and I searched "flying pop tarts", so I got this." Linnie explained.

Jacob said, "And that's better than finding information to shut down a hell for the living because…?"

Linnie turned to him with disbelieving eyes. "Pop tarts are awesome, and rainbows are awesome, and flying is awesome, so if you put them all together, you get a triple awesome!"

Ali said in a sarcastic voice, "Wow, that logic totally makes sense!" Then she said in a normal voice, "My turn on the computer, Linnie."

"Mine." Linnie growled.

I rolled my eyes. "It's Ali's turn on the computer Linnie." She began to protest, but I gave her the evil eye. "_Now." _I said in a sharp tone. Linnie shrank back, the switched seats with Ali so she could have a turn on the computer.

Evie groaned. "They better get my bacon done soon, or I'm gonna kill someone."

Todd smirked "It's only been 5 minutes, Evie."

She looked surprised. "Really? It seems like it's been forever."

"Trust me, it feels like that to me too." I assured her.

After what felt like an eternity, but in reality, was another 5 minutes, our food arrived. We scarfed it all down, and then asked for Sen and Polar's food to be boxed up. The waitress compiled, and within another 15 minutes, we were out the door. We walked quickly back to the shelter, gave Sen and Polar about 30 seconds to eat, in which they managed to finish all their food, and we took off. The flightless were amazing runners anyway, so they kept up, and the winged took to the air.

And that, my dear reader, is the events that befell us before we came to the first stair. The moment that changed everything.

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><p><strong>AN: Yeah, this chapter kinda sucked, and it was too short, I know. It's only, like, 3 and a half pages! If the story's too rushed, or anything like that, let me know and I'll try to fix it. If you want me to do your characters POV, then let me know and I'll make it happen. So far, the only POV's I have are 3<strong>**rd**** person, Skye's, Linnie's, and Evie's. So, review and tell me what you think! Oh, and I remember this time that I said to Emily "You know in the Authors Note? What does AN stand for?" Gods, I felt like an idiot. Just a random memory. (Emily: We all know you're a fail.) Me: SHUT UP EMILY! Well, I got to go beat Emily up.-Sunsets P.S. The next chapter will be up hopefully soon, maybe sometime today.  
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	2. The First Stair

**A/N: Hey people! It's Emily, or summeranderson as that's my account name here on fanfic. Sunsets was awesome enough to let me write the second chapter of her story. I know I haven't been updating on my own story, so sorry about that. This chapter is from my character, Evie's POV. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Evie's POV**

It's hard to hide from Him. No, it's impossible. It's impossible to hide my thoughts. Even though I have a mind of my own, my thoughts will always be shared for as long as I have my mind. I can't break free—breaking free means death. There's no use running. He's there no matter where I go. I have no choice of my own. They took that from me a long time ago. Or at least it seems to be a long time.

Was I destined for this? Or was it all a mistake and I just happened to be the unfortunate one? Whatever it is, there's no turning back now. The damage has been done.

I know He can hear what I'm thinking right now, how I called Him damage. He doesn't ever try to deny it, because it's true, and I can feel his sorrow. But I know He'll always love me no matter what. I'll always love Him too. Even if He is to kill me one day. From what I know, that's evident and unavoidable. The hard part is accepting it.

It's all the scientists' fault. Like I said, the damage is done and irreversible. Impossible to undo. But maybe dying if He can be free won't be so bad. And however much He loves me, He'll always have a desire to be free. I don't blame Him—it's instinct.

For whatever reason, the problem with Him has been getting worse the past couple of days. His traits just suddenly flare up, and for a brief, terrifying moment, I have no control. I can only hope that I am far from my flock at the time. I don't want to hurt anyone. Maybe it's because I'm getting older and older with every passing day, and maybe more mature.

Aside from Him, my flock is the only people I can trust. But I don't trust them enough to tell them about Him. I mean, they know all my mutations, but I've never told them how I fight for control. He doesn't try to do it on purpose, but it happens. Involuntarily, I've been acting stranger than usual lately, because it's getting harder to keep control—to keep my sanity and mind. I can tell my flock has noticed too, but they don't say anything. I guess you can call me a coward, since I'm afraid to tell them, since they're all I have left besides Him, and I don't want to risk them kicking me out. But I dare you to be in my position and do any different.

After all, they've taken that choice away from me a while ago, when they started experimenting on me, when they mixed in wolf DNA with my own. I remember that at first, I was absolutely terrified of Him, and I still am today. He just has to try just the slightest bit, and I have to fight hard to keep my mind. But He wouldn't do that to me. But like I said before, it's instinct. He can't really help it when it happens.

He's as helpless at the hands of the scientists as any of us.

I suppose you still don't get my problem. I've never been that great at explaining things anyways, but please, I don't need criticism.

But the scientists changed me, and a whole 3 percent of my mutation is wolf. And you know how wolves are. I constantly have a lust for blood and fighting. It's not something I can explain. Like I said, I don't really excel at that.

You don't—and never will if you're lucky—know how it is. I have to always fight for my own life. It's hard enough being attacked by Erasers, but if it's a mental battle, it's a hell of a lot harder. You can't ever run away from a mental battle, and it's not some one-time thing. It's real. Even if you physically fight Erasers every single fucking day, at least you'll have peace and calmness in your mind, your stable home. But even that has been stripped away from me. I have no steady foothold on this world. I'm spiraling towards insanity. It's just the question of how long I can fight until it's over.

I bet you think I'm mentally insane now, and you might be correct. But I can't deny the fact that He's always there, a small voice in my head, except when He's trying to take over. When that happens, He's like a thunderstorm, or a hurricane, destroying everything in His way, those strong enough to survive hanging on by threads, completely at his mercy. But that's how the world works, isn't it? My goal is to work myself up until there will be people at my mercy, fearing me.

Occasionally, I let a small bit of Him slip out during battle, since it helps my skills. But it's very dangerous, since it's also very easy to get carried away. The hunger for blood grows immensely when fighting, it's scary. But of course, in my life, everything's scary. And I hate that.

Why couldn't I have just been normal, that I had never gotten kidnapped by the scientists, and that my parents hadn't been poor? Damn the scientists. Damn my parents. When I escaped from the School, they left me with nothing. Nothing but Him, my wolf. And then I found the flock. At first, I was glad that they had taken me in, that I could actually repair my mess of a life, set it back on course again. But later, I found that it was more difficult with the flock. Even though I had found kids like me, who understand what it's like to be different, they'll never understand what He feels like. I can't ever tell them. Not until the end.

Now whatever feelings of sympathy you had for me, if there was any, has probably faded away. I sound so pathetic now, drowning in self-pity. Good. I never wanted you to feel sympathetic for me anyways. And whenever you feel disgusted with me, just ask yourself, what would you do in my position? That will teach you not to be a hypocrite. As you may have already noticed, I'm not the kindest person you'll meet. Do I give shit about that? Guess. Anyways, you're reading this to learn about me, aren't you? This is my life, and I can be a bitchy asshole if I want to.

Anyways, I know that it's dangerous for me to keep letting a little of Him out during battle, since the barrier between our minds is extra thin then, and gets thinner every time I fight. But I don't care. Fighting and blood is too much give up, even for a few extra years of life. Maybe it'll be easier to die now. Maybe the extra years of life won't be worth the torture during them.

The truth is, I'm just not sure what to do anymore. I know it's not a good idea to hide things, and that you should just tell people, but I can't. I don't care if that might help find a solution. The hardship at first will be too much to bear.

I may not be as smart as Sen with her IQ of 200, but I'm probably a hell lot more introspective than anyone you know.

-put line here-

**Linnie's POV**

**(AN: This is Sunsets writing again.)**

"I'm tired!" I whined for the 52nd time. Yes, I've been counting. Don't judge me! I could tell from the looks on their faces that I was getting on their last nerve. Even Evie, who was usually very patient, looked like she was going to strangle me and throw me off a cliff.

Todd responded, slightly exasperated, "For the 52nd time, Linnie, we'll stop in an hour," with a glance at Skye for approval. So he had been counting too!

If you didn't know, I'm Linnie. I love puppies and ponies and nyan cat and rainbows and flying. And peeing, because pooping's for the weak. (AN: My sister said it, not me.)

Skye rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but fine. I can't stand the whining anymore!" I smiled triumphantly. Yes! I love annoying people to get my way! Even though I felt guilty because it was Skye and Skye's my favorite. Don't tell anybody I said that.

Evie gasped, "No, don't let her get her way! It will only make her do it more often!"

Blade said, "Oh, let it rest. We've been flying for a while, and my wings are starting to get sore too anyway."

Todd offered, "Should I tell the people on the ground that we're finding shelter for the night?"

Skye said, "Sure," and with that, Todd flew lower. Then we all began to go higher to search for shelter.

I searched around, but the only thing I saw was a waterfall running into a lake. When I informed Skye of it, her eyes lit up, and I could tell she was having an 'Ah ha!' Moment. I asked her, "Why the 'Ah ha!' Moment?"

She responded, "I remember hearing somewhere that when there's a waterfall, the rock behind it wears down so there's a dry hollow behind it." Skye flew up to tell the others that we had found a place.

Meanwhile, I flew lower to tell the people on the ground where to go.

-put line here-

**Skye's POV**

As we neared the waterfall, Polar began to look uneasy. I asked him, "What's wrong?"

He responded shakily, "Okay, this is such a 'that's what she said' moment, but that space is going to be waaaaay too tight."

I responded, "Then you'll be on the ground. The person on watch will be on there with you."

Polar nodded, and walked over to where he would be sleeping.

"Alright…" I surveyed the flock gathered there, waiting for further instructions from me. "How 'bout we have a vote whether the non-winged should climb up, or carry them up?"

In the end, we decided to carry them up because the climb would be too long. Since Linnie was too small to carry anybody, she stood at the bottom with Polar to make sure nobody fell.

"Todd will carry Sen, I will carry Ali, and Blade will carry Jacob." Evie tried not to look offended by this.

"Well, what can I do?" Evie demanded.

"You can…" I racked my brain for something. "Look for food."

Evie nodded, then at a weak attempt at a joke, "I'm thinking of Mexican today," before she spread her dark wings and took off.

The others got into position, and then swooped up to the waterfall. I flinched at the cold as I burst through the wall of water, then set Ali down on the other side.

A few minutes later, we had a fire going, and the ones who could fly were out there…well…flying. I was randomly going in loop-de-loops when Polar called, "Uh, guys? I think you should see this."

"One sec, I'll get the rest of the flock."

Once everyone was there—well, minus Evie—and all crowding around Polar, Sen started griping about how she could have just thrown everybody down in a barrel. When Sen finally stopped, I noticed a small piece of plastic in Polar's hand.

Sen took a step closer—which was almost impossible considering the fact that we were already bunched up tightly and probably making Polar very claustrophobic—and her eyes widened. "Is that a flash drive?"

We all stared at her blankly. "What the heck is a flash drive?" Linnie asked.

"It's a tool for moving files around into different computers," Sen explained.

We all stared at her blankly again.

"What? I've seen one before!" Sen said defensively.

"But look at what it says on the side." Polar said, still shaken. He held the flash drive out to me.

Still unshaken, I took it. Now, everyone began to crowd around me. And when I turned it over, I saw what Polar had wanted us to see. A secret that would change our lives.

The label on the flash drive read _The School._

What were the odds?

AN: Hi! I'm writing an Authors Note like this cuz it looks cool… Sorry if it doesn't show up. The pictures didn't show up last chapter, as Emily pointed out. The links were all from tinyurl. If you wanna look at them, just put 'tinyurl' where the 't' is. Sorry if that confuses you. XD

Only Emily reviewed last chapter. Can I get some more this time? -Sunsets


	3. Chapter 3: The Fight

**So, here's Chapter 3! Read the AN at the bottom of the page, There's some important stuff down there on the story. **

**Total: They should have a pet dog.**

**Me: I'll work on that. So, without further ado, chapter 3! Oh, and I don't own Max Ride. But in my imagination, I own Total. Let's hear it for *Does the sponge bob rainbow thingie with hands* imagination! **

**AN: Okay, so I'm gonna give a quick recap of the last few sentences of chapter 2.**

_The hard drive was labeled "The school."_

_What where the odds?_

**Skye's POV**

For a while, we all stood around staring at it. Finally, Ali said, "Well, are we going to check it out?"

"Well, we don't have a place to plug it in." Todd pointed out.

"I've got that covered." Linnie said, and pulled a thin laptop out of her pack.

We all stared at her. Finally, I asked through gritted teeth, "And just where did you get that?"

Linnie smiled. "Well, I saw a cool laptop lying around a store, and it was so awesome I took it!"

Todd, looking like he was on the verge of exploding, asked in an exaggeratedly calm voice, "Did you bother to think that it could've belonged to an employee? Or somebody who was going to come back looking for it?"

Linnie, now looking more scared than pleased with herself, gulped. "No." She said, her dark eyes downcast.

Several of the kids began to yell at her, but I held up a hand. "Not now, I'm too tired to put up with this now. We'll yell and punish her tomorrow." They looked like they were going to argue, but nodded grudgingly.

I turned to Linnie. "Now, this doesn't mean squat to you. One of your punishments will be that you cannot use this laptop unless it's an absolute emergency. And no, pop tart cravings are not an emergency." I took the laptop from her hands and put the flash drive in. **(AN: Remember, last chapter she was holding it? Well, she never put it down so… That's why she didn't ask anyone for it.) **I handed the laptop to Sen. "Well, you're the smart one. I've barely been on a computer in my life." She immediately began typing in a string of stuff, and in a few seconds she handed the laptop back to me. I muttered a "Thanks." And I was about to start reading a file when suddenly a pack of Erasers swarmed in.

I quickly threw the laptop into one of the pack, then ran over to the battle. Everyone was doing fine. Even Linnie was holding her own against an Eraser. But there were more coming. I took on an Eraser of my own. It raked its claws down my arm, causing it to bleed. I quickly socked it in the nose and kicked it where it counts. It fell over, and I smirked, kicking it in the ribs a couple times for good measure **(AN: when I was writing the first part of the chapter, whenever I was describing something, my sister kept ending each sentence with either, "That's what she said!", "and kicked him in the balls", or "and kicked him in the nuts." XD) **

But after a while, you could tell that we were hopelessly outnumbered. The Erasers, sensing this too, pulled out tranquilizers and pointed them at each of us. "Now, if any of you struggle, we will shoot you." One of the furry soldiers snarled. The flock and I nodded feebly. What else could we do? Some pulled out roles of duct tape and headed for us. Usually, I say that duct tape is very useful, but this is one of the rare times that I curse the person who invented it. "Wait." The same Eraser snarled. I assumed it was the pack leader. "Where is Experiment 112683?" I assumed the fiend was talking about Evie, since she was the only one not here. "She was the most important. If we come back without her, we'll be executed."

Now, you might have noticed I didn't refer to things as 'he' or 'she', but 'it.' That's because these things aren't human. At least, not in the way we are. They have no heart, no soul. All they are is a bunch of cruel, brainwashed, empty shells. As much as I had to admit it, they're probably good deep inside, in a place their niceness has been forced after the cruelty of their training. If it weren't for the white coats, they'd probably be something relative to nice. But they aren't. They've been turned into slaves, and I can't let myself be sympathetic to them. Then, it'd be too easy for them to capture us. So I call them 'it', to remind myself that these things can't be trusted.

One looked at me. "Experiment 102379. She's leader, correct?" It looked at the Eraser I had dubbed the leader for conformation. With a pang, I remembered how that exact same thing had happened with me and Todd not an hour ago.

The head Eraser whipped its head around to stare at me with beady eyes. "Where is she?" it snarled. "If I knew, do you think I'd tell you?" I said, surprised by my own boldness.

It walked over and slapped me across the face. "Now, don't take us for shitheaded idiots. We know you wouldn't leave one of your precious flock members behind. Now tell us were Experiment 112683 is, or we'll shoot your little sister." And it pointed the gun straight at Linnie. I swallowed, fighting back tears, and said, "Did you hear me? I don't know." It let out a cruel chuckle. "It seems that your stubbornness will mean this experiments demise." And was about to fire the gun when a miracle happened.

**Evie's POV**

I had finally finished getting our food. I mean, seriously, you wouldn't think it would be that hard to rob a Taco Bell, but it took forever. Yes, I did fly over to the nearest town for Mexican food. It wasn't even that far away, maybe a half hours flight. Of course, a half hour flight for a bird kid is a 2 hour drive for humans so I was pretty sure we were okay. Besides, there were no roads in a 20 mile radius.

Anyway, I was getting close to where we were staying when I saw the most horrifying thing.

Erasers swarming around my flock. And one was pointing a gun at Linnie.

"Now tell us where Experiment 112683 is, or we'll shoot your little sister." He was talking to Skye, and by Experiment whatever-numbers-he-said, he meant me. I could only imagine what was going on in Skye's head right now. She didn't know where I was. None of them did. And now Linnie was about to get shot over something out of her control. Out of anyone's control.

Unless I did something.

I flew slightly closer, but still not in view. I assumed Skye had said she didn't know where I was, because the Eraser said, "It seems that your stubbornness will mean this experiments demise." Yes, so it seems. But then I did the craziest thing, something I never would've done under normal circumstances.

I flew into view.

"Miss me, doggies?"

They all turned.

Their mistake.

"There's the experiment! Now, come here little birdy, or we shoot the girl." The one who had been snarling at Skye kept the gun aimed at Linnie's head.

Now, do you see what I mean by that? They weren't looking at anybody but me. Even the one with the gun had transferred the gun to one hand so he could watch me.

Sen understood this, and silently crept up behind the beast with the gun and knocked it out of his hand. Then the fight went down for real.

I dropped like a stone to the ground, extending my wings slightly at the end so I didn't break bones upon landing.

Let's do this thing.

**3****rd**** person**

The battle was rough, with one side outnumbered. But the smaller side was stronger, quicker, and smarter.

A girl with red-streaked black hair was battling 3 wolf-like monsters, unsheathing her claws and sinking them into the chests of her opponents, smiling slightly as they yowled in pain, crimson erupting from the punctures.

A small redhead was yelling, "You're all big fat turds!" while beating her enemy up. Her attacker looked surprised that such a small girl was pummeling him. She let out a loud bark, a power she referred to as sonic aarfing, **(AN: LOL I just had to add that in.) ** and smiled victoriously as her target fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, the eldest girl, a tall girl with messy red hair, and a green-eyed girl all took out their opponents together. The oldest would run around them in circles, at lightning speed a couple times to make them dizzy and unfocused, then the two others would pummel their subject, and each attacker was out in ten seconds. Sometimes the eldest would tear through their hair-covered flesh with razor sharp teeth for good measure.

One boy, who appeared to look similar to the half-wolves because of his fur but was really on the other side, took out his enemies by shoving them into water because they couldn't swim. The other two boys fought hand-to-hand combat.

Soon, all the wolf-like enemies were out, or so they thought. Until they heard a child's voice scream.

The victors glanced among themselves, at first with confusion, then with understanding and panic. Finally, the leader, the eldest redhead, yelled frantically, "Well? We've got to get her!" The black-and-red haired girl closed her eyes and let her keen sense of smell guide her. In a matter of seconds, her velvet-colored eyes snapped open. "She's on the other side of the waterfall!" the girl said. "And someone is with her. And I can also sense a fear scent from Linnie." The entire group looked horrorstruck, the leader in particular. "Well, let's go get her!" Her wings immediately snapped open, and she flew to the other side, the winged flying after her, the wingless ones in hot pursuit.

Soon, they reached the other side. Hovering where they couldn't be seen, they heard a voice snarl, "It's too late for her to save you now." The leader appeared horrorstruck, as if remembering a horrible bad dream. She peered around the corner, to see the youngest among them pressed against a wall, a knife held to her heart.

This was too much for the girl, who snarled, "Leave her alone!" and, unsheathing her claws, launched herself at the wolf-man.

The furry fiend, startled, dropped the knife. That was all it took, for within five seconds, the attacker was on the ground, blood oozing out of his heart. The young girl looked dazed, as if she was still processing what she had just seen, while the older girl just looked downright murderous. Timidly, the others came out from their hiding place.

The velvet-eyed girl rushed to the leader's side. "Oh my Gods, Skye. Look at your arm." The color draining from her face at an alarming rate, the gray-eyed girl sunk to the floor, her arm bleeding heavily.

"Guys, Skye really needs help." The same girl said in a worried tone. A boy with gold eyes sat next to Skye, examining her wound.

"Oh my God. What do we do?" The boy said, obviously on the verge of panicking.

"Don't worry." The injured girl mumbled, cradling her arm to her chest.

The eldest girl whipped around, a surprisingly fierce expression on her face. "You're dying, and you expect us to be CALM!" She shouted.

"Calm down, Sen." The leader said, slightly louder this time. "You guys know what you have to do." She said, but this time her voice fading. The youngest girl suddenly broke out of her trance, and was next to her dying sister in a flash.

"Don't go Skye, don't go." Her brown eyes threatened to spill over with tears. The older girl smiled slightly.

"Not going anywhere…" Her voice trailed off, and with that, the girl passed out.

The girl with red-streaked hair stood up. "She's right, you know. We do know what to do."

They all glanced among each other. And within that one glance, they all knew what she meant. The place they all dreaded, even Skye herself. And that was when they knew exactly how serious Skye's injury was.

Because they were going to the hospital.

**AN: Yeah, I might've set you guys up for disappointment for the end, but oh, well. Okay, now for some important stuff.**

**I'm going to try to have a kind-of-update-date. I say kind of because it will be either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday unless I tell you guys differently.**

**In a chapter that I'm going to post relatively soon, they're going to go to a thrift store and buy new clothes. I'll give the character owners a PM a couple weeks in advance, but they need to tell me what they want their character to wear, otherwise I reserve full rights to choose their clothes myself. Keep in mind that this is a thrift store, so they can't have anything too expensive. And for my anonymous character, Jacob, just leave a review. People with accounts can PM me their outfits. And they don't need to change their whole outfit, particularly their shoes, just their tops, bottoms, 'ya know, basic stuff. And don't make it fancy, seeing as though they're on the run and all.**

**Emily (summeranderson) is my sorta-kinda editor/co-writer. Just putting it out there for 'ya.**

**If any of you wanna co-write, just PM me, and we can write that part of the story there. And if you want part of a chapter in your characters POV, just tell me. Otherwise, I probably won't do it.**

**I'm a mental, so some parts of the story might sound kinda… disturbing.**

**I'm actually getting the shirt my character wears! Yes, it's real. XD Yeah, this isn't important, just think it's cool. Oh, I'm also getting these epic sneakers: (Remove spaces) http:/ w w w . j o u n r n e y s . c o ?id=198899**


	4. Chapter 4: The Hospital

**Hey, guys! Sunsets here! As you know, I have a co-writer, Emily. She wrote this part that's Evie's POV, so prepare for some major gore and insanity!  
>Okay, so this chapter is sorta filler-ish, but it's long, crazy, and introduces some new people into the plot, and shows you a general route on where this story is going. Starry-Ride-is-awesome, you know who I'm talking about with the new characters. ;) The rest of you shall find out at the end of the chapter. Oh, and I don't own Maximum Ride. There, I said it. Happy?<br>So, let's not drag this out too long, and get this chapter started!**

**Hey guys! It's Emily/summeranderson again! Hehe, Sunsets let me write some of this chapter. Hope you like it! :P**

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><p><strong>Evie<strong>

Since Skye was out, I stepped up to the role of leader, being the second-in-command.

"Right…" I closed my eyes, activating my special senses. I could track people up to 5 miles, and searched for the sickly smell of the hospital. I would be able to tell if the scent is especially strong, which most are. And I- ooh, I picked up a trace!

My head snapped instinctively in the direction, then blinked my eyes open. "The nearest is directly north about 3 miles."

For us, 3 miles was a breeze, but with an injured Skye, it would take a few minutes longer, what with trying not to drop Skye out of the sky[no pun intended] and keeping an eye out for Erasers. Of course, they weren't any nearby that I could detect, but it doesn't hurt to be sure. I briefly wondered where they could have all disappeared to in such a short time. The ones we didn't kill, I mean.

I barked out orders to the flock. "Todd and Sen, you guys carry Skye. Blade, lag behind them just in case. The rest of you guys carry on as you normally would. We have a leader to save." It didn't sound nearly as good as it did in my head, but this was no time to be thinking about stuff like that.

Fortunately, the doctors didn't ask about Skye's wings. They had probably seen weirder.

The rest of the flock was in the waiting room. Occasionally, I would stick my head through the door and ask impatiently, "Are you done yet?"

It's not that I'm impatient, but the _smell._ The smell was getting to me. It reminded me so much of the School, and you all know what that means.

I edged out of a whiteco- er, _doctor's_ way as he passed, but he stopped and turned to smile at me. "Hey, she'll be okay."

Like words from a regular human, especially a whitecoat, could distinguish my worries. And he didn't even know what I was thinking about. I was about to snap at him to fuck off, when he did it.

He put a filthy hand on my arm, as if trying to comfort me. "You don't have to worry."

That did it. That set me off. That and the nauseating smell that had been bothering me since we arrived. How dare one of them touch me without my permission?

"Don't touch me!" I'm glad the rest of the flock was in the other room, sipping water, eating some chips I had stolen gotten.

I didn't even know what I was planning, and certainly didn't know what I was thinking, for without realizing it, I had unsheathed my long claws I usually kept hidden. Red blurred the edges of my vision. My chest felt like a weight had been lifted as I grinned, and a wave of adrenaline washed over me.

The doctor didn't even have time to turn his smile into an 'uh-oh' face. Oh well. It was his fault anyways. He should have known not to mess with a mutant.

**{WARNING: WILL contain gore. XD But you guys love me because of that, don't you? Sunsets: Sure we do… *Pats Emily's back awkwardly* Emily: *kills Sunsets* Sunsets: But then you won't have a writer anymore! Emily: *considers this, then kills again* Sunsets: Gah, let's just get back to the story.}**

You know how sometimes, you do something, but afterwards, you have next to nothing memory of it?

So, one minute I'm standing there, facing the doctor, the next, he's leaning against the wall for support, yelling his head off. A pool of blood has already formed on the white-tiled floor. Smears of red are clearly visible on the walls. Another thing that bothers me: Why is everything freakin' white in a hospital?

Blood. My claws are coated with it, dripping, adding to the quite large—if I say so myself—collection on the floor. But it's not mine. A hand, motionless and solitary, but otherwise appearing just as a normal hand, also rests in the puddle.

He's crying in pain, blood gushing out in an unstoppable stream, trying to run, but feet slipping around in his own blood. On one arm, he has lost a hand. I can see the white bone, mocking me. Another thing that has to be white. I like the color red better.

An inhuman snarl rings in the air. It takes a while before I realized it had come from me, and that I had done it again. There's so much blood, and I can't deny the fact that I love it. That I can't bear to stop. Not now.

Pieces and chunks of flesh litter the ground, crimson fluid seeping out, like a sponge, white specks of bone embedded. I fight the urge to crush it, to crush the color white. In fact, why can't I just destroy this whole fuckin' white building?

_But the pieces would still be white, Evie,_ my wolf reminds me gently. Then I'll get some red paint! Or better yet, I can work with what I have here.

I wipe my hand in the liquid on the floor, and brush the walls and floors. This shade of red gives off a nice, fresh, bright look, making the boring hospital less dull. Why didn't the staff here notice that in the first place? Why didn't they choose red instead of white in the first place? That would have saved me all this trouble. Gods, they're stupid!

At that thought, an insane laugh escapes my lips. Jeez, these people were stupid! _Hey, Earth, how about I do you a favor and get rid off them for you?_ The ridiculous thought pops out of nowhere, but for some strange reason, I feel obliged to follow it, even though I know Earth isn't an actual being.

Pausing from my painting, I look up at him and see that his whole left arm is gone, though some flesh still hangs by strands. He's panicking and calling for help.

Good. That will save me the time for trying to find the stupid people later.

This thought pleases me, and I grin happily at him. _Thank you for improving my day._ I don't even think about how the flock might be wondering what was happening, or how if I kill all of the stupid people, there wouldn't be anyone left to save Skye.

I decide to let them come, then finish my first prey off. Wait, did I say prey? I meant…well, yeah, I guess, prey.

Just to remind you, in case you might be thinking, but I'm not crazy. Really! Is it wrong to enjoy something you love? Say that you like annoying your teacher at school or something. That's bad, and yet you still do it because it's fun, right? Well, I think this is fun, and this isn't even bad! I'm doing the world a favor. You'll appreciate it someday, trust me.

And He agrees.

The other door bursts open, and a bunch of other whitecoats cram in, seeming to be irritated. "What's the problem?"

Then they see the blood. And me.

"It's you!" I call gleefully, answering the question that was not meant for me, not even sure what I was doing anymore. Right now, I feel giddy and like I'm a young child again, making no sense in the world, beyond not caring.

A second later, I have raked my claws through one guy's throat, and he made a funny gurgling sound before dropping to the ground. Half the crowd charges, the other half fleeing. As quick as a blink of the eye, I have leaped up to rest my feet on one's shoulders, then slice downwards at his head before he even realizes what I was doing. It's been a while since I was in the School, and that had been one of my training exercises. It wasn't a clean cut down his skull with I used to be able to do, but it met the goal.

As the guy slumped forwards, I sprang, and caught a hold of another guy, managing to hang on to him and score my claws on his back a few times. Warm, soothing liquid pours out over my hands, and I pause for a minute to shut my eyes and inhale the smell. There was barely any trace of hospital left on these people.

My stopping turned out to be a mistake. I saw the dart shooting at me in seemingly slow motion, and I started to shift out of the way, but surprisingly, I was moving in slow motion too.

The dart stuck in my arm, bringing with it a sharp stinging pain. "You bastards!" They all surrounded me, hands reaching out. "Go away!" My vision blurred, and I lashed out frantically, but for some reason, I was getting tired really fast. "No…" Energy was draining out of me like someone had pulled the cork out of a bottle held upside down. "Stop…" I couldn't be captured again! No! Not again! Not again, not again, not…

**Random Scientists POV (For reasons unknown, I'm gonna call him John. Oh, and it's Sunsets again.)**  
>"I can't believe they let them escape-again!" Mary groaned from across the table, downing two Advils at the same time.<p>

"Me either." I agreed, sipping my mug of coffee. "Remind me, why do we always send them out if they can rarely actually catch them?" I asked.

Mary looked up at me, a glimmer of respect in her eyes. "You know, you're the first person who ever actually said that. Everyone else just goes, 'Well, they failed the last couple times, so let's waste a few thousand dollars on making a new batch to fail again!' Idiots."

Suddenly, Cecile ran in. "I got information on the whereabouts of Experiment 112683! The leader of her group got captured, and the whole group is currently in the hospital with her. But you know what's weird?"

"What?" I asked, nearly breathless with excitement. "Just tell us, and we can go. No need for Erasers, the security at hospitals is so bad I bet getting her out will be a cinch." Mary said.  
>"The leader isn't the only one in the hospital. Experiment 112683 is there too. And you're not gonna believe what section she's in…"<br>**Time skip! Okay time, start skipping! *Time skips* La-la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaaaa! And… We're back!**  
><strong>Still John's POV<strong>  
>"Okay, are we ready to go?" I asked, doing one last check before everyone went onto the roof and boarded the helicopter. My group-Mary, Cecile and I- all checked our packs and nodded. We then left to go take back what was ours.<p>

**Evie**

_Leave me alone, I don't want to get up._

_Evie, you must get up right now._ My wolf's voice was firm and urgent.

His words made me think of the flock. The flock…were they in trouble?

That thought in mind, my eyes snapped open, and I shot upright. Or, tried to. "Ugh!"

The force on my stomach almost forced me to throw up blood. "Ow…"

I realized there were metal restraints around me, and that I was laying on some kind of table. And even worse, the walls were white. Well, the _padded_ walls were white! "What the hell?"

Was I in some kind of mental institute or something? There were no windows, no door{that was visible}, no anything. Only walls, my table, and a T.V. hanging in a corner of the room. I suspected the whitecoats could see me through the screen, and I could see them, too.

But currently, all I saw was white-tile walls, meaning the doctors were not there. "Damn it!"

My claws slid out, and I realized they were crusty with dried blood from the day before. No matter how hard I tried, they couldn't reach the metal. Like I could make a dent in the metal anyways. I would need someone like Sen, with her sharp teeth, to free me.

"Let me go!" I shrieked to no one in particular. I wasn't even positive anyone was listening. "Do you hear me? Let me go!"

A face appeared on the screen. I didn't exactly recognize him, but his features were cruel. I couldn't exactly place where I had seen people like him…

"Experiment 112683 is awake." His words sent a chill down my spine. The school! He was from the school!

I started frantically writhing, desperately trying to free myself with no improvement. I couldn't go back to the School! I just can't! I don't want to be experimented on! A terrifying thought occurred to me. What if, right now, I wasn't in the hospital anymore? What if I was strapped down to a table in a room…already at the School?

After a few minutes of me freaking out and him chuckling silently, I whispered, "Let me go, you bastard."

"You'll be back at home in an hour. Don't worry, little birdie." Seriously? Birdie? I had a feeling that by 'home', he didn't mean Japan. Yeah, I'm Asian. Shut up.

"Shut up! I won't go!"

Of course, that was useless. I couldn't do anything about it. "You…just stay away!"

Well, at least I knew I wasn't already at the School.

A rectangle piece of the padded room slid open, and in walked a group of whitecoats. And the smell…

My usually velvet eyes changed to a misty blue color, wide with panic, which you would almost never see. "No! Get the hell away!"

They surrounded me, and pressed a button on a remote control. My restraints were gone. But before I could spring up and k-…er…_neutralize_ them, a steel cage dropped around me. _No!_

The scientists picked up my cage, and started carrying me away.

"Let me out, you freaks! Sons of a bitch! Damn you!" I started swearing at them, anything to try to get them to stop, or at least slow down. The only thing it resulted in was one of them roughly shaking my cage, banging my head against the bars.

Was this it? Was this really my fate, to be an experiment again?

Apparently not, because Sen appeared in the doorway, cheeks flushed from running. "Leave her alone, you mother-fucking assholes!" And she launched herself at me, her metal-breaking teeth my key from the cage.

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><p><strong>Sen's POV<strong>

I paced around nervously, which you rarely see me do. Yeah, I was nervous for Skye, but I couldn't help it! She was family! Suddenly I had an incredible urge to chew some of my tobacco. Yeah, you heard me. They gave me some once at the School to numb a pain, but I had simply gotten addicted. I knew Skye hated it, as the rest of the Flock, but it was one thing I couldn't give up. Like… It's like Evie with her bacon. I snuck some into my mouth when none of my Flock was looking. After a while, I realized I hadn't seen Evie for a while. I moved the tobacco so it pressed against the roof of my mouth so I could talk. "Hey, have any of you guys seen Evie?" I asked.

Blade furrowed his brow in concentration. "You know, come to think about it, I haven't."

"I'll go ask at the front desk if they've seen her." I offered, standing up. I walked to the front desk. "Excuse me?" I asked, causing the receptionist to look up, a fake smile plastered onto her face.

"How can I help you?" She said in a too-sugary voice.

"Have you seen a girl around? Black hair with red streaks, Asian?" I said in a no-nonsense tone. "Oh, yes! She was admitted into the surveillance room a couple minutes ago. She, erm… ripped off a doctor's arm." She said, horrified. My jaw dropped. None of us liked doctors, but I don't think we'd actually do that! Let's see… If she was admitted a few minutes ago, they wouldn't allow visitors, so I would have to sneak in. I knew from past experiences (Don't ask, that's a long story) that the asylum was located in the back, and they had the names of the patients on the doors. All I had to do was sneak in…

I nodded at the receptionist. "Thanks for your time." My voice was plaintive. I walked into the hallway and into Skye's room. She wasn't awake yet, though her heart moniter was beating faster than it had been when I had checked on her last. I walked back into the hallway, and accidentally-on-purpouse bumped into a doctor. "Oh, sorry." I said, putting on a voice that I hoped actually sounded sorry.

"It's okay." The doctor said shortly, then left. What he didn't know was that I had stolen his ID. Walking quickly, I ran into the back of the hospital. I flashed the ID under the scanner, then walked into the hallway. Conveniently, her door was third-from-first. I walked in, expecting her to be wearing a strait jacket, or blocks on her hands or something. Instead, I saw some whitecoats carrying her in a cage, Evie pleading for her life.

My eyes widened, but I stayed calm. I had to save Evie. Instead, I snarled, "Leave her alone, you mother-fucking assholes!" They looked slightly surprised, and that gave me enough time to tear through the bars of Evie's cage with my razor-sharp teeth. Not wasting a moment, she jumped out and we both ran for it.

"Thank the gods that's over." Evie said once we were back in the waiting room.

"Thank the gods what's over?" Polar asked curiously, which was surprising, considering that the only thing he had said besides that had been his catch phrase, "As above, so below." None of us knew what it meant, but it seemed to calm him down, so I gave it two thumbs up.

Me and Evie glanced at each other. "We'll tell you once we get into Skye's room and she wakes up. She should be waking up soon, so we might as well wait there until she wakes up. She should be there when we tell you." Evie said, and, with that, we all walked into Skye's hospital room.

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><p><strong>Skye's POV<strong>

Most would think of this as darkness, with utter silence sprawling from where you can't see it, too far to cut it off. But that's dead wrong. In fact, it was blindingly white, and there were footsteps from a single pair of feet tap-tap-tapping, making their way closer to me. Slowly, I became aware of cool marble under my feet, and the cool silk of a dress floating around me. Slowly, almost scared, I pulled a hand back and felt my hair. It was brushed out and curled, cascading down my back. I looked down and saw I was wearing gorgeous, white, sleeveless silk dress, and no shoes. I wondered how I got into these clothes, seeing as though last I remembered I had been wearing knee-high converse, skinny jeans, a graphic T-shirt, and a hoodie, with my hair in a messy ponytail, but these thoughts were brushed away as though they were mere cobwebs as the footsteps stopped a few feet from me, and I looked up to see what was in front of my face.

Now, what I was peering at wasn't human, nor was it an animal, but not in the way us hybrids are. I couldn't see a face, just the mouth, but it took the form of my favorite kind of cloud; fluffy, coming right before storm, as a warning; get ready, for this is merely the calm before the storm, and your troubles will come back before they fade. This thing relaxed me, yet made me feel oddly uncomfortable for reasons I couldn't place.

"Skylar Ross." I immediately stiffened when I heard that name. Almost nobody called me that anymore, I had almost forgot what it sounded like through passing through a person's lips so normally, like a train leaving the station. This thing was talking as though it had knew me my entire life, yet I don't recall ever seeing it before, unless it was ever in the sky.

The cloud-thing smiled with an amused air. "Skylar, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" I asked, a wave of confusion rising just above my head.

The cloud looked as if it were explaining something to a very young child. "Why, death, of course." It said as though we were talking about who won the Super Bowl.

I've got to hand it to the cloud; when I heard what it had said, I almost stopped breathing. "No. I'm not dying. I'm not leaving my flock."

The cloud smiled humorously. "Well, what if they don't want you anymore?"

This time I growled, standing up. "That's bullshit. They care about me. We're all family. I love them." This was true. I loved them all. I even loved Evie when she was being pissed about her bacon, Sen when her sarcasm level was at it's all time high, Todd when he was having his mood swings, Blake was just being a full-out idiot, when Jacob was trying to kill all of us the first time we met him and when Ali was doing the same when we met her, when Polar refused to speak ,Linnie when she was annoying everyone in sight. I loved all of them, and I knew they all loved me.  
>The cloud chuckled lightly. "That's the thing, Skylar. They don't care. They're just using you." I wrinkled my brow in confusion. When had they ever used me?<br>"Don't you remember? All of them did. When Sen first met you, remember how much she disliked you? And Kvothe, he tried to kill you the first time he met you. Jacob? He barely even talked to you when he first came. Blade hates you and thinks you're stuck up. Evie wants to kill you so she can be leader. Todd promised you he would be your best friend when you told him you didn't have a best friend. He promised he'd always have your back. Well, all that got you was a bloody arm. Ali thinks that you're just a sneaking, lying traitor. Linnie? She manipulates you, Skye. She wants you dead. They all do. If you go willingly, you could go back to haunt them. Get revenge."

For a split second, I have to admit I was tempted. If they really said that stuff about me, then why what the point of going back to them? Then I realized that this wasn't true. It wasn't Sen's fault that she had trust issues. We all do. And Polar had only tried to kill me because he had been told to, and was too shocked and scared of the consequences of he didn't. And Jacob, he had just met me and didn't know squat about me! Blade, well, how would it even know what goes on in Blade's head? It's a figment of my imagination, not Blade's. Evie might want to be leader, but she wouldn't kill me to do it. Before I had passed out, she had been scared for me. Scared that I was going to die. And Todd had never stopped being my best friend, and he truly have my back. It wasn't his fault about my arm, he isn't totally responsible over me. And again, how would it get into Ali's mind? And Linnie loves me. I can't say she doesn't manipulate me, but she does love me. When I was lying on the floor of the cave, bleeding, she was next to me, crying, saying "Don't go Skye, don't go." It was lying. My family loves me, and I love them right back.

I stood up and faced it. "You're wrong. They all love me. And I love them too. If I have their backs, they have mine."

I expected it to argue further, but it simply smiled. "Congratulations. You passed the first part of your test." It must have seen my confusion, and went on, "I was testing to see your faith. Not only in your flock, but yourself as well. As a fair warning, there will be a part two to this test, though you'll never see me in it. Good luck. You may now return." I had a few more questions, but the cloud was already fading. And I suddenly woke up in a hospital bed, an IV tube in my arm, my arms tied down, blanket over my body, the flock sitting on chairs next to my bed.

"Skye!" Linnie cried out, rushing over to my bedside. The rest of my Flock joined her.

"Thank the gods you're alive!" Evie exclaimed.

"We should get a doctor in here to make sure you're all right." Todd said.

I rolled my eyes halfheartedly, but let them get a doctor, just in case there was something wrong with me, which I highly doubted. They pressed a button and within seconds, a doctor arrived.

"Oh, I see our patient is awake!" He said, walking next to me. Instinctively, my Flock stepped back, seeing as though we sort of had a hate-hate relationship with doctors. It took all of my will power not to cringe away.

"Okay, first things first," He said, pulling the restraint off my injured arm, "We need to make sure your arm is still working. Can you flex your arm?" I slowly flexed it, relieved to find it worked fine. "Okay, that's definitely a good sign. Now, how do you feel?" He said. I considered it for a second, then said, "Like someone just threw a pickle covered in shit at my face, forced me to eat it, then ran me over with a truck filled with dictionaries, and threw my body of a cliff onto a bed of spikes with a few toilets filled with alligators in them." I said truthfully. The doctor looked taken aback, and the flock and I snickered. "She's fine all right. That's classic Skye." Blade said. "Well, what you felt, I guess that's normal, considering what happened. Your siblings told me a man came up with knives and threatened to stab you if you didn't-erm-well, you know… But you're lucky. He came that close to hitting a vein." Oh yeah, lucky me, I got stabbed. Whoop-de-doo. I thought, but kept it to myself. Instead, I nodded. He took the rest of my restraints off and left the room.

The flock returned to my bedside again. "Can you tell us what happened now?" Linnie asked Evie and Sen. They glanced at each other and nodded. "Okay, here's what happened."

**(AN: Okay, so here's where they would be telling the story, but since you guys already heard it, we'll skip it instead.)**

"And that's what happened." Sen concluded. My eyes were almost popping out of their sockets with this information. Evie had nearly been kidnapped. I just… I can't believe that I almost lost Evie, one of the people I trusted the most. Oh my god… "I glanced around at the rest of the Flock, who were also listening to the story for the first time, and they were just as shocked as I was. But they were both safe, and that's what matters.

But what if next time we weren't so lucky?

* * *

><p><strong>Starry's POV<strong>  
>I woke up bright and early, just like usual. I woke up the rest of my flock- Nikki, Aaron, Seven, Mack, Sophie, and Shadow- and said, "Get up, or you'll never see the light of bacon again!" They all immediately sat up.<p>

Excuse me, I never introduced myself properly. My name is Starlet Ride, but you can call me Starry. No, you will call me Starry, or I will kill you. I'm the leader of my Flock, and I'm thirteen. The School told me I used to have a twin sister, but she escaped and they don't know where she is. I'm 2% avian, 2% butterfly, 96% human. I have dark hair and gray-blue eyes.

Aaron is second-in-command, 2% eagle, 98% human. With blonde hair and hazel eyes, he looks like he just stepped out of a boy model's magazine. Don't tell him I said that, though. He's possibly the most sarcastic person in the world—when he talks, of course.

Nikki has possibly has the most mutations ever, with 2% falcon, .2% fish .2% wolf .1% cheetah, and 97.5% human. She's part Asian, and always wears black, but she's not emo. Actually, she can kind of be a bit of a girly-girl at times. She has long black hair, and her eyes are either icy blue, glassy green or stormy gray depending on her mood.

Seven is very strange, and far more formal than a regular boy. Most of the times, he's a bit…off, is what you would call it. He pisses people off a lot, but he's promised to try to keep it to a minimum recently. He's 7% snake, 2% raven, and 91% human. At least that's what he tells us. I suspect there's something he's hiding, though. His appearance is very proper, formal, and…elegant, though I've never seen him hesitate from a battle for the sake of keeping his clothes clean. With black hair that usually falls in his eyes, and pale red eyes, he looks like a real creepster, but surprisingly, when we're in public, I've noticed he attracts the attention of some girls, but not as much as Aaron does, which ticks me off for some reason.

Mack was made out of another mutant's DNA, but the school didn't say who. **{A/N: Here's a hint: Read the reviews for the Sign-ups.}** He's fourteen, with black spiky hair and gold eyes. His mutations are 2.4% eagle, 0.6% wolf, and 97% human. He's pretty talkative and annoying, and wears bright colors, or white.

Sophie's full name is Anna Sophia Evans, but everyone calls her Sophie, just because her personality doesn't fit the name Anna. She has dark brown hair and eyes that can be either dark brown or amber. Her mutations are 2% eagle, 1% cheetah, and 97% human, and can influence people to obey her will. In other words, if we piss her off, she can do some pretty embarrassing stuff, which has actually happened. Don't ask.

Shadow's original name is Kasey Dimond, but she changed it because she didn't think it suited her anymore. Her mutations are 20% wolf, 20% tiger, 10% eagle, and 50% human. She's pretty quiet, but a major risk-taker. When we're in low spirits, she's always the one to bring us up. And if she's giving up on something, you know the world's about to end. She has long, straight dark brown hair and bright green eyes, a tail always sprouting out of her you-know-where.

Anyway, we're all on a mission. And what is that mission, you may ask?

Well, there's this other group of mutants…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long. To be perfectly honest, I was really lazy and wasn't exactly writing the descriptions for the bad guys. But on the up side, this is the longest chapter yet, and it's pretty much the end of me introducing new characters. Well, not exactly, but the rest won't be as descriptive. Sorry, I'm just getting tired of doing these. Oh, and Emily's here. Anything to say about the chapter, considering you wrote about half of it? Emily: Well, I would write something, but Sunsets insists it's a spoiler, so :P her. Even though it is. T.T"**


	5. Chapter 5: The Announcement

**Hi guys! After taking a couple day's break of writing, I'm refreshed and ready for a new chapter! Let's get it going!**

**Total: Sorry, but Sunsets is in denial and refuses to say she doesn't own Maximum Ride, so… she doesn't, no matter what she tells you. Enjoy!**

**Skye's POV**

"Woah, woah, woah. Did you just tell me I can't eat my own freaking taco?" I shrieked at the doctor, who shrank back slightly at my harsh voice.

Okay, let's back up a bit. We had just woken up, and we weren't in the mood for the shitpickles they call hospital food. Then, Evie remembered she still had the tacos she had picked up before the Eraser attack. We had been passing out the heavenly, greasy slices of heaven when a doctor had come in to check on me, and went on an idiotic little spiel about how I can't eat while I'm here. Gods, I'm glad they let me wear my own clothes instead of one of those stupid hospital gowns! Anyway, they are currently trying to force me out of eating my taco. And, you are now officially up to date with the news.

"It's for your own good. You may not eat solid foods for a week." By this, I knew it meant a mere couple days. It brought me back to memories of scientists cutting open my arms, then leaving me to see how long it would take to heal. I forced the memories into a nook into my mind, then brought myself back to reality.

"Look, that's bullshit. The way I said I felt yesterday? Well, now I just feel like the part about the pickles with shit on them." The doctor moved toward me.

Well, you might feel differently after you see your arm." He unwrapped the arm, clearly expecting to see a terribly scarred arm, still red with dried blood and from the stichin a mere twelve hours ago. Well, he was in for a surprise. His eyes widened in shock as he saw my arm, only with long, slightly dark- pink scars. It looked about seven-eighths through healing.

He stepped back, obviously alarmed. "Did you take drugs or something? That's the only way an arm could've healed this fast." He said accusingly.

I scowled. "Why the fuck would I do something as stupid as that?" I snapped, my eyes flickering towards Sen. She looked guilty for a brief millisecond, then her face contorted back into its usual smirking one.

"Now, I don't' appreciate your tone, young lady." He said in a clipped tone.

"Well, I don't really give a flying shitpickle what you think." I responded.

"Skye!" Evie hissed. "Linnie is in the room right now!" I realized this was true, turning to see my sister's face in morbid fascination. I mentally cursed myself, knowing these words would somehow become some of the most used words in her vocabulary.

"Whatever." I mumbled. Almost as an afterthought, I turned to the doctor. "But I'm still eating my taco." And, knowing he couldn't win this argument, he merely nodded and left me to enjoy the cold, but still delicious, bundle of joy.

**Linnie's POV**

We were all finishing up our meaty slices of heaven when the doctor came back in.

"It seems that, at your healing rate, you'll be released tomorrow." He briskly stated, then turned on his heel and walked right back.

"Okay, guys. I've got some news for you." Skye said, motioning for us to gather around.

"What is it?" Todd asked impatiently.

"Well, I've been using our laptop to search for houses, and this morning, I just bought us one." Skye announced, searching our faces for a reaction.

Now, let me explain something. It's kind of complicated how we get our money, and even I don't fully understand it. A few years ago, we met my father. Yes, my birth father. He explained how Skye had a different father, and then went into a different room with Skye to explain it fully to her. I don't know exactly what happened, but they took a while, and when they came back, Skye's eyes were completely red. He then went on to explain how our mother was dead. We stayed there a few hours, but we didn't want Erasers attacking him, so we left. He wanted to help us though, so he set up a bank account, and he puts money into it monthly. I don't know how much, but it's enough to get us food, and anything else we need with gobs of money left over.

So, back to the present. When Skye announced this, my eyes pretty much pooped out of my head. Skye continued by announcing, "Thanks to the bit of money we've left over the years, I was able to get a really nice, brand new house in a solitary space, and Linnie's dad signed the contract for us. It's three levels and an attic, plus a loft, with enough bedrooms for us each to have our own, plus we each only have to share with one other person. I have the layout on the computer, so we can choose our rooms using that. Also, I e-mailed Linnie's dad, and he was generous enough to bring all of our stuff from our old house to our new house. Well, he's going to. We're flying to the house as soon as I get out of this place, and Linnie's dad is going to meet us there and stay there for a few hours."

Immediately, Ali nabbed the computer and clicked on the tab with pictures of our house on it. The house had two guest rooms on the first floor, one bathroom, plus the family room, living room, kitchen, and dining room, and the basement had a store room, a bathroom, and a large room with a built-in projector. The top floor had all of our bedrooms, along with some bathrooms. The rooms were connected to the bathroom by a door, and so, technically, the rooms were connected. The attic was, well, an attic, and we decided that the loft was a space we would all share, sort of as a secret meeting place, or a place to just relax and think. Our Flock decided that Skye would get the room closest to the front of the house, and Evie would take the room next to her, and they would share a bathroom. Ali and I got rooms across the hall from them, and we shared a bathroom. Since Jacob wasn't a pervert, he and Sen were sharing a bathroom. Besides, I'm good with relationships, and with the way Jacob was looking at Ali in the last week, I had a feeling that they had more than a friendship. But that was just my opinion, and since no one else was commenting on it, I might've just been my imagination, though I wasn't quite sure… Anyway, then Polar and Todd were sharing a bathroom, and Blade's room wasn't connected to a bathroom, so he just shared with Polar and Todd.

All the rooms had an entire wall covered in bookshelves, and a window with a ledge large enough to put a window seat on.

We decided to paint the ceiling of the loft blue with white clouds, and we'd each have our own personal little recliner. We'd each have our own section of the wall to paint. But we were going to go to the store and getting our own stuff to decorate our own rooms. We weren't allowed to show the stuff we bought to anybody though, for Skye wanted to go around the house and show it off dramatically.

We must've had a lot of money left over, for we were going to be able to get a plasma screen TV for the family room. I personally couldn't wait to move in, it sounded so amazing! Speaking of which…

"When are you getting out of this hell-hole?" Evie asked.

"If I had to guess, a day." Skye responded. I inwardly groaned, not wanting to say anything. But, just my luck, the doctor walked in!

"Well, Miss Skylar, it looks as if you'll be leaving tomorrow morning." I inwardly cheered. Yes! Tomorrow night, I'd be lounging in my own bed!

**AN: Sorry, it probably seems short compared to my last chapter. Anybody with a character, PM me or review what you want me to make the bedroom look like! I also need outfit changes from: Blake, Polar, and Todd. Otherwise, I won't change their outfit, or I'll change it to something I think they'd wear. See 'ya guys! -Sunsets**


	6. Chapter 6: The Move

**BTW, if you can't tell, I changed my account name. You can still call me Sunsets, though.**

'**Sup, guys! This chapter will be about the same length as the others, but it's more filler-ish then action-ish, but it won't be a total filler. Speaking of Total…**

**Total: 'Sup, everybody!**

**Me: Oh, and before I forget… there's a slight complication. I don't own Max Ride. Guess that the plans for killing Dylan in the last book will have to wait until JP is dead… Oh, well. On with the story!**

**Skye's POV**

The next morning, I was finally released. Of course, everyone wanted to fly to the house right away, but first we needed breakfast. Polar and Todd waited in an alley.

Now, I won't bore you all with the details. All I'm going to say is: we had breakfast. Yeah, I know, so descriptive! But, like I said, don't want to bore you.

After breakfast, we met Todd and Polar back at the alley. "What took you so long?" Todd asked as soon as he caught sight of us.

"We weren't that long. Guess it seems longer if you're just hitting puberty." Jacob said, trying to joke. Obviously, Todd didn't take it as a joke. **(AN: Not trying to offend anyone there.)**

"What did you say?" Todd asked, seething.

Jacob looked taken aback. "W-w-w-what?" He said, stumbling slightly over his words.

"What. Did. You. Fucking. Say." Now Todd's voice was steely quiet and calm, but not in the good way. More in the shit-is-going-_down _sort of way.

"Guys, stop fight-" Ali was cut off as Todd pounced on Jacob.

They started tussling, and it took Ali, Polar, and Evie just to pull them apart. By then, Jacob had a bruise covering half of his cheek where Todd punched him, and Todd had a cut on his forehead where Jacob had scratched him.

"Break it up, you guys!" Sen scolded as all of us except Jacob struggled to keep Todd from pouncing on Jacob again. "We don't have time for fighting!"

Eventually, Todd calmed down and we could release him without worrying about him and Jacob killing each other. "What were you two thinking?" I reprimanded. "You could've killed each other!"

"Calm down, Skye." Ali said. "They're both alive, and that's what counts." She joked, and I relaxed slightly.

"Okay, fine." I turned to Jacob. "Does your cheek hurt?" I questioned.

Jacob gently prodded his cheek with one finger and winced. "Meh. Could be better, could be worse."

"Can you live with it until we get to the new house?" Polar asked.

"Yeah." Jacob responded simply. I then turned and walked over to Todd, who was still bleeding from where Jacob cut it.

"Geez! How'd you even cut it that deep, Jake?" I asked, pushing Todd's hair out of the cut. As a response, Jacob shrugged.

"I've got the gauze in my pack." Ali said, already on her knees and digging through the pack. After searching through her pack, she finally found a wad of gauze at the bottom, along with some antibiotics. "Here you go." She said, thrusting her findings at me.

First, I had Linnie hold his bangs back from his face, causing some giggles from everyone else. **(AN: I started laughing at this part because when I was first starting picking the OC's, I was writing Linnie's form, and she was like, "Oh! There's a dude name Todd! Can he be with Linnie?" And I was like, "One, he's 16, and two, he's gonna have a relationship with Skye." And my little sis was like, "Maybe Linnie can steal him from Skye!" and I was just like, WTF? Anyways… back to the story!)**

Then, I spread some antibiotics on the cut. I did it as gently as I could, but Todd still winced slightly. But, then again, it might've been from the sting. Who knows?

Then, I wrapped the gauze around his forehead and stood up, indicating that I was finished. Linnie let go of Todd's bangs, which immediately fell back onto his face, as she and Todd stood up.

"Come on, guys. We're going to be late." I said, walking out of the alley. I heard footsteps behind me, and could tell my Flock was behind me. Besides, I could hear their colors… Did I say that? I meant, um… That I could see them! I mean, just- ugh! Forget I ever said anything.

**(AN: Sorry if I forgot it on the form, if I did forget, I meant to put it in. Skye was born with synesthesia, and the white coats gave her drugs that hid it, but the drugs are wearing off now, and the colors scare her.)**

Anyway, we walked out of the town the hospital was in, and got to a clearing big enough for takeoff. We winged children took to the air, and Polar, Ali, and Jacob turned into full wolves and ran below. We traveled for about an hour straight, and finally made it to the house. Like I said, I don't bore people with unnecessary details. We landed in front of the house, and I was speechless.

The front yard was large with several large maple trees. The house had a porch on the front, with one of those porch swings on it. I sensed that when it got warmer, I'd be on it a lot. Linnie's dad's car was parked in the driveway.

"Wow." Linnie said, speechless for once in her life.

"Wow is right." Ali agreed, breathless.

"Well? Let's go in!" Evie impatiently said. Without waiting for a response, she raced toward the house, and we all followed suit.

The front door opened into a short hallway, which we all walked down. It then opened into the kitchen, where Linnie's dad sat.

"Daddy!" Linnie said, running over to hug her dad.

"Sweetheart!" her dad responded, hugging her back. The rest of us stood there sort of awkwardly. Finally, Polar cleared his throat loudly, and they both turned around, finally remembering we were here.

The kitchen was pretty nice, with a stove, microwave, oven, cabinets, a counter, dish washer, two sinks, and a table with ten chairs around it. The floor consisted of tiles, and the room was already painted a spring green. There was a back staircase that led from the kitchen to upstairs.

After looking around for a while, we moved on to the adjoining room, which was the family room. This was where the rest of our furniture was piled. Beds, chairs, couches, a box which I assumed contained our new TV, it was all there. There was so much it didn't all fit into that room, which was considerably large, and the remainder of the furniture was stacked in the next room, the living room.

"The only room I set up and painted the kitchen." Linnie's dad piped, slightly embarrassed. "The rest of the rooms are white." As he stated this, I saw Evie tense up slightly, her gray aura mo- I mean, her eyes switched to their velvety color. Did I miss something? **(AN: If you don't get it, think back to that scene at the hospital.)**

We picked our way through the boxes to move onto the living room, which was only half-full with boxes. It was only about half the size of our family room, and the four walls formed a cube.

Since it wasn't that exciting, we went up the staircase, into the hallway which contained all of our rooms. Jacob and Sen's were right in front of us, so we went in there first.

The rooms both had a large window covering half of the wall, and a walk-in closet covering the other half. The floor was bare, the only thing being the carpets, already installed. We had called Linnie's dad last night to tell him what color we wanted our carpets. Sen's carpet was brownish-gold, similar to her Ray-Ban wayfarers, and Jacob's was grayish-black, and the rooms were medium-sized. Their bathroom had a bathtub/shower, sink, and small cubicle that contained the toilet. This was what all the bathrooms looked like.

We then ventured into Polar and Todd's connecting rooms. Their rooms were medium-sized, and Todd had dark wood floors rather than carpet, and Polar had muddy red carpet.

Following that was Blade's room, which had-surprise, surprise!-black carpet.

Next on the list was Ali and Linnie's rooms. Ali had white carpet, while Linnie had light purple carpet, and their rooms were somewhere between medium and large.

Finally, we came to Evie's room, as well as my own. Ours were slightly larger than Linnie and Ali's, and Evie had black floors, mine being dark purple carpet. I already had the design for my room in my head, but I'm not telling you, for that wouldn't be fair, now would it?

After we finished touring the house, Linnie's Dad piled us all in his large van, and we drove to a store that contained home-decorating supplies. After that, we went our separate ways to pick out decorations.

After we purchased all of our items, we went back home to decorate our rooms. After hauling all of our supplies into our rooms, we were faced with the enjoyable, yet challenging task of decorating our rooms. Since we had our clothes from our old house, I changed into dirty old clothes. After laying a tarp down on my carpet, I stared at the blank walls, a canvas waiting to be painted.

Let's do this thing.

**AN: OH MY GODS OH MY GODS I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG GUYS! I was distracted with school and whatnot, plus the new story I started. So, here's the deal with my updates:**

**I'm going to update every-other weekend. But, since I appear to be having some extra time due to a shortage of homework, I'll probably be writing a few chapters in advance, so, if I don't have any writing time, like the past few weeks, I can scrape up enough time to just post a pre-written chapter. **

**Oh, and sorry to the creator of my new character, I'm putting her in next chapter. I pinky pie promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! For if I lie to Pinkie Pie than I shall kiss my flank goodbye! *zips lips, digs hole, buries key, fills hole, builds a house, puts a house over the filled-up hole* Any other bronies/pegasisters out there?**

**Anyway, until next time… This is Sunets, signing off.**

**P.S. I just read your comment, Emily. Before today, you hadn't updated since last quarter, so I wouldn't be talking if I were you.**


	7. Chapter 7: The New Introductions

**AN: Hey everybody! *Everyone throws tomatoes***

**Yeah, I know I abandoned you there for a while, but it was just a major case of writers block. Now it's cleared up, and I'm ready to write again!**

**This introduces some new characters. I hope you don't mind. **

**Without further ado,**

**Winding Stairs- chapter 7**

**Luna's POV**

I guess I don't specifically remember loosing my mind. It was slowly, bit by bit each day, until the voice in my head expanded from a tiny corner of my head to my whole being.

Confused? Allow me to explain. Leila *I forget her last name* here, but call me Luna. I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I'll put it out there now: I'm a mutant.

No, not a creepy one that has legs growing out of their neck or something. I have wings and other cool assorted powers, but if I tuck the wings in, I appear to be your typical girl.

I have blonde hair streaked with a dark shade of violet, green eyes, and wings the color of the cream that everyone sloshes into their coffee.

I used to be one of the School's best hunters. Why couldn't I track and capture a couple measly bird kids? The Whitecoats got angry and threw me onto the streets. But not before my Dad slipped something into me...

Basically, my Dad's voice takes control of me at random times (generally while I'm sleeping). It makes my eyes turn blood red, and my voice demonic. I know, I know, it's cliché, but it's actually how it happens.

Less confused now? Good, 'cause I don't repeat myself.

**Starry's POV**

Well, you haven't heard from us in a while. It's because we've been busy trying to capture these other mutants. We're currently sitting, checking these high-tech cellphone-like things the School gave us to get a read on these guys. We were plopped down next to a medium-sized canyon in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey, I think I might have something!" Sophie exclaimed. We all gathered around to see them in… was that Kentucky? Great. Since we were in California, It would take a while to get there. If we could fly, then we would be there quickly, but Mack broke his wing earlier today, and wouldn't be able to use it for about a week, even with our fast healing. Leave it to Mack to break his wing in the most complicated way possible. And we hadn't anticipated this, being the anti-planning-ahead people we are, so we had no money for plane tickets.

"We probably don't even have the money to take a train to Kentucky." Nikki grumbled.

"So, it looks like we'll be doing some hitchhiking," Aaron concluded.

But what're the odds that we'll have enough people with cars big enough for all of us that'll be heading in our direction?" Seven pointed out.

"So, how'll we do this?" Sophie asked.

"It looks like we'll be jumping cargo trains, everybody." I stated grimly.

"Like hoboes?" Shadow snickered. She stopped as soon as I set a glare on her.

"We'll have to start tomorrow, though. It's pretty late." Aaron pointed out. Damn it, why does he always have to be so level-headed, with that smug smirk that looks perfect on his face… Wait, who said that? I didn't say anything! He he…

"So let's find somewhere to rest in this canyon, shall we?" Seven commented.

"Heck yeah, we shall!" Shadow yelled. With that, Mack jumped into my arms, and I grunted at the weight- but, since it was only a few seconds, I dealt with it- and we all dive-bombed into the canyon, putting our wings out at the last second so we wouldn't splatter on impact, and I set Mack down before surveying the bottom of the canyon. There were several small cave-like structures at the bottom. We found a rather large one and began to walk towards it, with Nikki in the front and me taking up the rear.

Nikki softly stated, "Er-guys, I think this cave belongs to the bats." I saw what she meant as we saw something hanging from the top of the cave. Almost as quickly, I saw that that thing was WAY too big to be a bat.

So Sophie said what we were all thinking: "That's not a bat."

Then, we all saw dark brown eyes open and fix on us. Then we heard a thud.

Then we saw hands with pieces of sharp glass in them.

Then we saw the hands coming towards us.

**Ali's POV**

Wassup, my peeps? Ali here! We're at our house, decorating our rooms. My theme is so beast! What is it, you ask?

Like I'm gonna tell you…

So, we were just painting, and generally having a good time, when we here, "Dinner!"

Well, you don't need to ask us twice.

There was the general stampede downstairs, the fighting over who was sitting where, and then, we noticed the beautiful food on the table.

There were baked potatoes, peas, and… what are those?

"Hey Daddy?" Linnie sing-songs.

"Yes, Sweetheart?" He says, appearing beside her chair.

"What are those?" She said, pointing to the humongous plate of huge, light brown balls in the center of the table.

"Why, that's my specialty dish! Mac and cheese with bacon, rolled into balls, and deep-fried!" He stated proudly.

We all stared interestedly at the balls. "Pig heaven!" Evie breathed. We all glanced at each other, before diving for the plate!

"I call firsts!" Linnie screeched, pulling at the plate.

"Well, all's fair in love and food!" Skye replied, pulling it back.

"Love? Eww, gross!" Blade pointed out,tugging at the plate.

"For once, I agree!" Todd said, trying to push Polar's hands off.

"Quit it!" He snarled, using one hand to grasp the plate and the other to shove Evie off her chair.

Evie, being Evie, simply hissed, which made Sen snicker.

Jacob and I, who were sitting next to each other, glanced at each other. Having a conversation through our eyes, we both nodded and let go at the same time.

Everyone was so surprised that they stopped fighting for a moment to stare at us with bewildered eyes. That was enough time for us to grab the plate.

"NOOOOO!" Everyone shouted, but it was too late. For Jacob and I were already putting several bundles of heaven on each of our plates. Laughing, we high-fived.

"Nice job, Jacob!" I laughed.

"You did great, Ali," He said, putting the plate back in the center of the table.

Being the 6-year-olds they are, they all started to reach for the plate again. This time, though, Linnie's dad stopped them.

"Stop behaving like this, kids!" He snapped.

Sen bristled at that comment. "For your information, I'm 17!" she snapped.

"Really? I could've sworn you were 6," Blade commented, smirking.

Sen lunged at him from across the table, teeth bared. Luckily Polar stopped them.

"Stop it, you guys," He softly intoned.

"Yeah. We'll just pass it around the table like civilized people." Linnie's dad stated calmly.

As they passed the plate around, Jacob and I dug in.

For the record, it was delicious.

**AN: Yeah, I know, kinda cruddy, but it's not TOO terrible!**

**Hope you enjoyed, and there's more to come soon!**

**Luffles, Sunsets**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey guys! I was bored, and I just got a lot of ideas and suggestions for this story, and I was gone for a while, so to make it up to you guys I'm updating this before Set it to the Max this time! You're welcome. **

**Total: AND I'M BACK, SUCKAS! WOOT WOOT!**

**Me: Erm… Okay… Well, I don't own Max Ride. Get it? Got it? Good.**

**Without further ado…**

**Total: Without any ado at all! (If anyone gets this reference, tell me!)**

**Me: *Gives Total a weird look* Well, give it up for… Winding Stairs! *Is the only one clapping***

**Linnie's POV**

So, it's like 6 in the morning, but I woke up for no apparent reason and had sugar so now I'm gonna bug people 'till they get up!

Jeez, I can be such a spaz sometimes… What? Why're you lookin' at me like that? Fine… I'm a spaz MOST of the time. Happy?

Now, back to the present… Who should I wake up first?

Let's see…

_Evie? _Nah, she might try to kill me.

_Skye? _I bug her all the time, so her reaction wouldn't be as funny. Also, she wouldn't be very annoyed because she's almost always up at odd hours. She said she's got insomnia, whatever that is.

_Todd? _He's… He's Todd! That's a reason in and of itself!

_Linnie? _But I'm already awake!

_Polar? _Last time I annoyed him, he had me in a headlock faster than you could say "ouch". I had a big black and blue mark on my neck for a week! Probably 'cause his temper is as quick as Rainbow Dash. MY LITTLE PONY ROCKS YOUR SOCKS!

_Jacob? _He was probably making out with Ali, and I don't wanna be scarred for life. ***1**

_Blade? _His room is all black, and that terrifies me. It's just… so… Oh my Gods, I nearly had a heart attack just thinking about it! Think happy things, Linnie… Rainbows, unicorns in sombreros ***2**, nyan cat… My Little Pony… Okay, all better!

_Ali? _Again, making out with Jacob.

_Sen? _Sen… She just might work! When she wakes up, she's just mumbling about Bleach, so she won't kill me, she gets easily annoyed… It's perfect!

I crept out the hallway, to Sen's room. As soon as I got there, I pressed my ear against the door. Snoring… Perfecto!

I opened the door and creeped across the room, her gold carpet cushioning my bare feet. It was too dark to see how she had decorated her room, in case you were wondering.

Sen must've fallen on the floor in mid-sleep, as she was tangled up in her bed sheets on the floor. I snickered quietly as I snuck up on her. When I reached her, ***3** I lowered myself to the ground, thankful I wasn't wearing tight pants. That sounded so wrong… _Focus, Linnie!_ I thought to myself.

I put my mouth up to her ear, took and breath, and began screaming "NYAN NYAN NYAN NYAN NYAN," over and over in her ear. She woke up, mumbling something about somebody named Orihime. As soon as she blinked her eyes open, I bolted out the door, unable to stop my giggles from bubbling out from behind my lips.

**Ali POV**

It was about 6:00 in the morning, and I couldn't sleep. I began thinking about Jacob. He was my best friend, but lately it felt like we might have something more. I wasn't sure, though, and didn't want to take the chance. As I contemplated, I heard footsteps and loud laughter in the hallway, accompanied by yells.

I raced over to my door and opened it, eager to see what the commotion was about. Did Evie walk in on Blade naked or something? ***4**

But there was Linnie, streaking down the hall, with Sen at her heels, yelling death threats. _I wonder what Linnie did this time, _I thought tiredly, before noticing that every single person was up and peeking through their bedroom doors. We all glanced around, surveying everybody else.

At last, Polar stepped out of his room, closing the door and clearing his throat awkwardly before whispering, "If everyone's up, why don't we just go eat breakfast?"

"Sure, why not?" Todd said easily, shrugging his shoulders as he left the room.

I saw Skye's gaze flicker to him before she stepped out of her room, responding, "Yeah, I think it's about time for it anyway, though it's a tad bit on the early side."

"I think we have some pancake mix." Blade offered, sidling out from behind his door.

"First dibs on bacon!" Evie yelled, slamming her door and racing down the steps.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Sen shouted, racing down the stairs. The others soon followed, leaving me and Jacob behind.

After a minute or two, Jacob looked at me, his gaze saying, "Why not?" as we both stepped out of our rooms, then I shouted, "Race 'ya!" and began running.

"Unfair! Cheater!" he yelled between laughs, running down after me. I laughed too, running through the hallways, into the kitchen.

There, we witnessed Evie and Sen shoveling down bacon and stealing from each other's hands (God only knows how they made it so fast), Linnie rummaging through the fridge while singing some random pop song, Blade and Polar looking for pans to fry eggs in while arguing about what kind of eggs were better, and Skye trying to figure out how the oven worked while Todd tried to explain it to her, his patience clearly waning.

I coughed loudly, and they all turned around to look at me and Jacob for an instant, before turning back to argue with each other.

"It amuses me that we didn't even bother to change out of our pajamas." I stated, looking back at Jacob with amusement.

Oh, how jacked up our lives are…

***1: Tee-Hee, just had to add some blunt Ali/Jacob.**

***2: That was from a Progressive commercial. Me no owny. **

***3: When You Reach me! I luffles that book! :3**

***4: Still not entirely sure if I'm going to put some Evie/Blade in the mix or not.**

**So, I might be making some polyvore links for pajamas, even though I didn't describe them in this chapter. **

**Was it good? Bad? Meh? Let me now through either review or PM!**

**Hopefully, I'll talk to you soon!**

**Love, Sunsets and Total.**


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